<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Limits of Force by 50artists</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25599523">Limits of Force</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/50artists/pseuds/50artists'>50artists</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Drabble, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:14:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>364</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25599523</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/50artists/pseuds/50artists</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>People don't give Allison enough credit.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Limits of Force</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>People don't give Allison enough credit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could have everything she wants - it's right there, just at her fingertips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I heard a rumour," she says to a boy when she's 13 years old - a boy with pretty eyes and black hair and a habit of biting his lip, who she meets at a local park and thinks she wants to marry - "I heard a rumour that you're madly in love with me."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(That only lasts two weeks, before Allison gets bored.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Allison can have anything she wants. Literally. Her father's approval (</span>
  <em>
    <span>I heard you love me like your own daughter</span>
  </em>
  <span>), her siblings' respect (</span>
  <em>
    <span>I heard you think I'm the coolest girl ever!</span>
  </em>
  <span>) and even, she learns, whatever items she wants off the shelves of whatever stores she visits. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(</span>
  <em>
    <span>I heard a rumour that you want to gift your mansion to me, free of charge.)</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>(I heard a rumour that you're going to bank transfer me a million dollars.)</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>(I heard a rumour that you want to cast me as the lead actress in your new film.)</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She tries it once or twice in the mirror. "I heard a rumour," she tells her reflection, "that you are happy with what you have, Allison, and you'll be satisfied forever." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It doesn't work, of course. Maybe everyone feels empty inside. Allison just has the power to fill that emptiness with lies, so she knows it better than most people could hope for; she knows the limits of force, she knows the despair of having everything and nothing simultaneously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And she tries. She really does try with her daughter, the one real thing in her life -</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(- because no power in the word is really capable numbing the pain of pushing a baby out of your own body, and no mind tricks could ever take away the unaltered love she feels, and no logical justifications of he-did-what-he-needed-to could ever excuse Allison's father of taking her away, is this is how her own mother felt, this desperate and illogical love.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>- but can she really overrule the conditioning of a lifetime?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So one day she is exhausted, and she looks her daughter in the eye and says, "I heard a rumour…"</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>my tumblr is <a href="http://xenixat.tumblr.com">xenixat</a> :^)</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>